


Crossroads

by SqueezeBabe



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Celtic Mythology & Folklore, Celtic Mythology AU, M/M, Rairpair Hell, other tags when I think of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 16:03:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14719226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SqueezeBabe/pseuds/SqueezeBabe
Summary: Otabek has a dark and mysterious past with JJ, and Christophe is on the run. Is Minami the one who saves them all?A Celtic Mythology AU with Wild Hunt themes.





	Crossroads

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of something I wrote a while ago - that I've rewritten for the purposes of fanfic. Hopefully this one has semi-regular updates!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has had a go and Beta'ing this, YOUR EFFORTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!
> 
> It's not rated yet - but I have every intention of turning this into E - so tags and warnings will be updated as I go.

His eyes slowly came open. It was sometime in the morning, but it was still dark. The clear night sky was not even light with the predawn, but he could hear movement and the sounds coming from the kitchen. He yawned. Was it time to get up already? He slowly propped himself up in the bed, a lock of bright red hair falling over his eyes which he pushed back with a sleepy motion, yawning as he did so. Running an inn on his own was hard work; but he wasn't entirely alone as the sounds in the kitchen would testify. He could smell the beginnings of bread baking and he smiled to himself as he eased his body out of the bed, reaching for the clothes that were folded neatly on his nightstand. 

Over the years he had settled into a morning routine of sorts. Whilst his kitchen was busy, he would go and check on the few animals that were in the barn attached to the building. He dressed himself slowly, waiting for the feelings of lethargy to dissipate. No matter that he had woken up before the dawn for as long as he could remember, it was still an effort to shake the feeling of wanting to stay in bed for that little bit longer. 

Once dressed, he walked down the passageway and down the stairs, taking care to tread heavily on each step, the wood creaking beneath his feet. His quarters were on the first floor, at the back of the inn, only accessible through the kitchen. There were other rooms available in the inn, accessible through the main common area. He wasn’t sure if the design was intentional, but he was grateful that he didn’t have to deal with patrons disturbing his privacy, and the privacy of his other… guests. 

He paused in front of the door to the kitchen, yawning loudly, almost theatrically,  and listened as the sounds in the kitchen abruptly stopped. He wiped the smile off his face, replacing it with an expression of being tired and half-asleep; not that it was difficult to do as that was a closer approximation of his mood, and opened the door. The kitchen was clean and empty, the only evidence of anyone being in it recently was the bread baking in the oven. He pretended to not notice the sound of scurrying, instead exclaiming loudly about rats and vermin as he walked over to the cold box in the corner, and pulled out a glass bottle of milk, taking it over to a bowl in the corner of the kitchen and filling it. 

"Here puss!" he called out half-heartedly, knowing full-well that there wasn't really any cats at the inn. He put the bottle back in the cool box and walked out of the kitchen, smiling once more  to himself as out of the corner off his eye he spotted a little brown figure make a dash for the bowl. Whistling tunelessly to himself, he walked through the inn, opening the windows as he went, and removed the large wooden bar across the double doors at the front. 

He stepped out into the pre-dawn morning, breathing in the cool air as he walked over to the barn to check on the animals. The dewy grass crunched softly under his feet as he made his way across the meticulously kept lawn. The nearby forest was silent except for the rustle of wind through the leaves of the trees, not even the birds were awake yet. 

He opened the heavy-set barn doors, setting them so that they would stay open for the duration of the day. He carefully stepped around the figure of a large black dog, sleeping soundly in the pile of straw at the front of the stalls. He would have brought a bone with him, if the beast had actually been a dog.  He greeted his animals in cheerful hushed tones as he fed and watered them, collected the eggs from underneath sleepy chickens, and milked the cow. By the time he had finished, the sun was peeking over the horizon, staining the air with the pale colours of dawn. He took his bounty back inside the inn and into the kitchen. The bowl of milk in the corner was empty, and the bread that was baking earlier was now on the bench cooling. He heard knocking at the doors of the inn, and put everything down and went to answer.

"Minami, hurry up and open the damn door!" 

"I'm coming! Gimmie a minute!" he called out as he hurried through the common room to open the doors, grinning at the man on the other side. "Glad you managed to get your sorry butt out of bed this early Otabek" he teased.

Otabek just smiled, he was used to Minami teasing him about not being as early a riser as he was. “I don’t need to get up early to look after the animals, that’s your job. My job is to do the heavy lifting.”  

The two continued trading good natured insults as they walked back inside, heading back towards the kitchen, stopping to rearrange the hefty oak tables and sturdy wooden chairs and benches in preparation for the day’s patrons. Nobody was staying at the inn at the moment, so they didn’t have to worry about preparing breakfast for anyone other than themselves. 

 

***

 

Harsh breathing echoed through the quiet gloom of the forest as a figure ran through the trees. Golden curls glinted in the flashes of early morning sunlight that filtered through the canopy as he dashed through the undergrowth. Entering a small clearing, he paused to catch his breath, looking around; searching. “It has to be somewhere nearby,” he muttered to himself, his eyes lighting up as he caught sight of the road. He hoped that he had managed to put enough distance between him and his pursuers. 

The baying of hounds sounded, the animals barking excitedly as they picked up his scent again. The man groaned tiredly. He had been chased for most of the night; he’d barely had a moments rest, if he didn't find somewhere safe to hide, then he would be captured and probably killed. Those who were after him were after blood.

_ Sanctuary. _

He had heard stories of a place that offered shelter to beings like him. A place where one could be safe from persecution, hidden from their enemies and those who would seek to do them harm through their fear of the strange and unknown. 

A place of the old magic; older than his own.

He ran along the road, his heart hopeful as the trees began to thin out. A building appeared, rising from the place where two roads intersected each other. It was more than that though. He could feel the thrum of ancient magic; the roads were built over ley lines. The arteries of magic that ran through the world, connecting the real with the imaginary, and blurring the boundary between the two.

If this building wasn't the one of legend then he was as good as dead. The sound of hoofbeats reached his ears and the hope he was beginning to feel starts to fade. 

He looked behind, at the road he’d just travelled and what he saw in the early morning light made his blood run cold. They'd caught up; they'd found him.

The man sprinted desperately towards the building, all he needed to do is cross the threshold. He's nearly there. Soon he will be safe…

There is a thud, the impact sending him crashing to the ground on the soft green grass that surrounds the building, the shock making him feel sick to his stomach. He tries to get up but the pain takes his breath away, he can't even move, and the best he can manage is to roll onto his side.

Gingerly he felt behind himself, his hand feeling the steel protruding from his body. It came away wet with bright red blood. He couldn’t tell if it was a bolt or an arrow, either way it was a lucky shot by those chasing him, to have struck him from that distance. 

His vision begun to blur and grow dim around the edges and he groaned in frustration. So close and yet so far. 

As unconsciousness washed over him, he prayed that his end would be quick

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for making it this far. Please let me know if you liked it and you want me to continue it. 
> 
> You can yell at me on Twitter @SqueezeBabe


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